Mathematical Modeling, Energy Consumption and Thin Layer drying Kinetics of Carrot Slices Under Microwave Oven

thin-layer drying characteristics of carrot stces were investigated under four microwave powers; 100, 300. 500 and 700 W and slice thickness of 7 mm. Data were analyzed to obtain difiJsil.ity values from the period of falling drying rate. Five mathematical models for describing the thin-layer diying behavior of carrot were investigated. The results show that the ~.tdilli et a I. is the most appropriate model for drying behavior of thin la-1er carrot slices. An analysis of variance (AN OVA) revealed that microwave power significantly affected the drying time, drying rate7 effec1iVe ditlusMty and specific energy consumption. The effective diffusivity varied from 4.23x 1 O lo 7 .. 34x10'0 m'is, and the activa1ion energy was determined to be 92.33 W /g. Specific energy consumption values ranged 10.27 to 23.29 kW•h/kg 'Water and the optimized specific energy consumption was obtained 300 W microwave levels.

Carrot Slces, Energy Consumption, Mcrowave Drying, Effective Diffusivity, Modeling